College basketball everywhere
Wow, it was Dec. 8, and everywhere on the dial you could find some college hoops. Everywhere, that is with the exception of the No. 12-ranked Tennessee Vols.
(OK, side rant: How is the UT-Colorado game NOT on TV, when starting at 5 there was a Wagner-Seton Hall game and then the tradition-dipped Georgetown-Coppin State, which was as competitive as Stephen Hawking in the middle school science fair? Yes, I know UT-Colordao was only finalized within the last few days, but for the love of Yves Pons' hair, the BYU-Coastal Carolina game was finalized at lunch on a Wednesday and the ESPN GameDay crew was there Saturday for breakfast. And for a UT athletic program starving for positive conversation, if the national folks don't want it, why is not done locally, especially in a time when just a fraction can go in person? Nonsensical. It's a decision as puzzling as the Vols half-court offense against a zone. Jay Greeson, right down the middle.)
OK, I feel better now. Thanks.
There was so much college basketball last night, and some of it actually interesting, that I think we may need a little rapid fire of items to discuss.
First, if - and we all know that's a huge if, a Hollywood-sign on the hills of Cali IF - there is a March Madness, be very careful pencilling in the blue bloods brothers (and sisters). Kansas escaped Creighton with a couple of very Dorothy-and-Toto-pro Kansas calls. Illinois housed Duke in the devils' dojo. Iowa smacked UNC and did it without a player of the year frontrunner doing much at all. This is with Kentucky off to its worst start under Coach Calipari.
The Big Ten is going to be big time in college hoops this year. THE Ohio State is No. 22 in the country, which is good enough for sixth in the league.
The SEC is not. Auburn is way down, and will stay that way until next year's five stars endorse those checks/enroll for a one-and-done on the Plains. UK is down for now, but will challenge UT for the top spot in the league. The rest of the SEC? Loaded with athletes, but not sure how many effective - and maybe more importantly consistent - basketball teams are around.
That said, UT is good. The desired blend of aged quality and five-star infusions. And the Vols, who were unguardable in the season-opening - and blacked out - win over Colorado when the Buffs were in man-to-man, have the skill set to be elite defensively. Here's more from TFP all-around SEC wizard David Paschall.
Finally, and we alluded to this last week, but it's made even more clear by a few lie-changing factors of the year of our Lord 2020.
College basketball must start competing with Judge Judy and the Family Feud and the Criminal Minds marathon rather than cannibalizing itself. With the family of networks at the four-letter mothership, even if it is the aforementioned Wagner-Seton Hall game, why not start the show at 4 or 5 p.m. East Coast time.
Corona is going to have a whole lot more of us working from home now and for the extended future. Exposure is the name of the game, and there's also the added bonus that with the growing legal options out there to wet a person's gambling beak on just about everything - other than Judge Judy's rulings, of course.
Those decisions are even more needed right now - like right this very moment - because with fractional crowds in attendance, it's not like you're offending the traditional season-ticket-holder who wants to go to a 7 p.m. tip.
If you are the Mocs, who are Jim Carrey-in-The Mask-Smokin' right now, cal Fox Sports South Whatever, and say, "Hey let's work something out that benefits both of us and all of our home games will be at 4 p.m., regardless o day."
You really think for a modest price, FSSW would rather have O'Neal Outdoors for the fifth straight day than live college hoops? Maybe they would, but for college basketball, an industry in much bigger trouble than most realize, follow the lead of the sports that rolled the dice in this season of uncertainty.
And start it ASAP.
THE issue after THE college football playoff
Where should we begin? The top four is right, gang.
Hey, Texas A&M has the second-best win this season, a W over a Florida offense that has been downright unstoppable every other week. (And yes, the Gators scored more than 30 in that L too.)
But the Aggies struggled with an Auburn team that is so deep into beyond mediocrity there are conversations about changing the glorious AU white unis a nondescript vanilla with logo-less helmets and no numbers.
And the eye test matters. A&M is a 10-point underdog - at least - vs. THE Ohio State.
The lone question that remains - and the deadline is sometime this afternoon - is if THE Buckeyes are worthy to be included if they are not the Big Ten champs.
OK, feel like we should fill in the back story here. Let's make a short story long.
The Big Ten pompously tried to direct the narrative of college football in August and said they were shutting it down for 2020. Everyone else shrugged their shoulders, looked at their bottom-lines and heard the pleas from parents and players and said, "Let's try to make this work, with or without the Big Ten."
So the Big Ten reversed field like David Palmer and decided to play. A large consideration for that decision was the realization that the playoff was going to go on, and the monster checks - needed more now than ever before - were going to be cut.
(Side note: I always view the Big Ten's decision making process as the landlord who tried to evict the widow who was friends with Vito Corleone's wife, and eventually learned who Don Corleone was and tried to return with the magnanimous gesture that featured the great line in broken English, "The rent stays the same" with this 100 percent Big Ten look on his face. Here's the clip.)
So, as the magnanimous Big Ten decided to get back in the fray of football and the freshness of its fiscal fallout - and get blasted by the national crew like Christine Brennan and the a slew of USA Today clipboard Corona crusaders - but did it on a cramped scheduled with a conference-only schedule and some asinine rule that you must play six games to get into the Big Ten championship game.
Well, the lone best chance for the Big Ten to have a playoff team is THE OSU. Period. And because of various cancellations outside of THE control of THE OSU, unless THE Buckeyes can reschedule a game for this Saturday, the 5-0 Buckeyes will not be eligible.
So the options are clear, even if the path is not:
> Find a Big Ten opponent to fill the slate, because again the landlord that is the Big Ten has a long-standing rule that you can't substitute a cancelled conference game with a nonconference game. Everyone with a platform had the same suggestion Tuesday, "Hey THE OSU vs. A&M, let's go." (And in truth, Jimbo Fisher should be campaigning for this game as much as Trump is for a recount in Georgia. Because the only way any of us wants to see A&M-Alabama again is if the Aggies truly prove they are better than the team that needed a 17-0 run to escape Auburn last week and the team Alabama beat by three-plus scores two months ago.)
(Side note: Remember when Nebraska wanted to play UTC back in the early days of this unforgettable season? And we mentioned around these parts that this is a dangerous precedent, especially if we get close to the finish line and say, THE Ohio State, needs a make-up game? Hmmmmmmm. That may be the single best college football prediction I've had all season, and I'm not sure it's close.)
> The Big Ten ADs, who are meeting today, can change the six-game requirement to get into the Big Ten title game. This seems like the easiest way, then let THE Ohio State hammer Northwestern and be the 3 seed in the playoffs. Of course this will be met with a chorus of Corona crusaders, and it already started with Dennis Dodd writing that the Big Ten must "choose between integrity and commerce" in terms of changing that rule. First, Dodd's assertion is way, Way, WAY over the top. Second, the choice of integrity and commerce is hardly as clear as play and don't play, because how much integrity does it take to follow a rule that has been in place for about 11 weeks if you're forced to cut the scholarships of hundreds of student-athletes and the jobs in programs that could face cancellation?
And while we're here, the integrity dilemma was here long before the live-and-die nature of Corona, friends. This just puts the direct spotlight on the exploration of college football players in terms of the need of the financial windfall these players generate on the smallest levels of compensation. The model is failed, and it was failed long before today's looming decisions for the Big Ten. It's one of the reasons the Knight Commission has suggested that big-time college football split from the NCAA, something I have been suggesting and predicting around these parts for years. FOR YEARS.
So stuff the stuffiness Dennis. And imagine the over-the-top hand-wringing that Christine is going to craft?
Anyone who does not think the money is part of this decision is either as naive as Gomer trying to nab Barney with a citizen's arrest or just, shall we say, exploiting the situation for either clicks or to spin a previously controversial narrative.
Gang, we're all swimming in the same dirty pool, and whether you are wading in the shallow end or cannonballing of the high dive, we all have to shower when it's over.
NFL's next frontier
OK, Lamar Jackson showed flashes of the ways he can truly be unstoppable. Granted it was against the Cowboys, and I think Spy could go for 80 and TD against Dallas, but still.
It also was betting cornucopia with a slew of player props and lines in play.
So I watched a fair amount of a game I would otherwise ignore.
Anywell, I will say this: I am all for Tuesday night football becoming a thing. As soon as next year. Yes, in a normal year, the MACtion gives us a Tuesday night football option, but until the massive overhauling schedules because of the Corona, I never knew how much I appreciated a real Tuesday night football option.
In truth, I would rather have Tuesday night than Thursday night, since the college game already pushes forward decent Thursday night matchups that could get even better.
The need is beyond personal preference, though. Every sport is going to be starved for new revenue streams sooner rather than later. Did you see the story that the NBA approved $30 million to each team from reserves to help the transition and the lost revenue from the absence of fans? What about the NHL and the NHLPA finally agreeing on a 52-game schedule this week and finding a way to make it work financially.
Friends, with the exception of the NFL, every other sports league (MLB maybe has another year, too) from college sports to the PGA to who knows the heights, faces a make-or-break financial turning point in 2021.
And Tuesday night football - especially with an expanded 17-game schedule that will have more weeks and more byes - seems like a win-win for everyone.
This and that
- Thanks Andrew and Chas for asking earlier this week, and yes, the Lil' 5-at-10 has been Zooming some national history and academic competitions over the last few days. Over the weekend, despite technical difficulties that forced him to miss the first two rounds - the scoring is cumulative - he finished second in the state of Tennessee and 55th nationally in the history bee over the weekend. Last night in the first round of the overall academic bee, he got eight o the 50 questions asked to panels of up to 14 other competitors. In the grand scheme of things, the Lil' 5-at-10 placing in the top three regional in those academic competitions in February - the nationals were supposed to over the summer in Chicago - was one of our personal family-related Corona cancellations. Yes, Spy, he's a chip right of the ol' block - his momma's.
- You know the rules, here's Paschall on Alabama's people-pushing offensive line and an up-and-coming Vols defender.
- You know the rules, here's Weeds on UTC hoops and the Mocs' aforementioned fast start. Side note: It's really hard not to like Lamont Paris friends. Truly. Love it when good things happen to good folks.
- You know the rules, and here's TFP sports editor and prep sports guru Stephen Hargis on the area Mr. Football winner and four area finalists.
- So the Vandy women's basketball team has announced it will not come out for the national anthem as a force of social protest. So there's that. Of course I have comments, and among them is that other than this decision, would we ever even discuss Vandy basketball in this space. So it that regard, if you are exploiting social protests and statements, even as a tangent or by accident, then the self-serving aspect of said statements make the protest at best questionable and at worst hollow and disingenuous, no?
- So we did finish second in the Weston Wamp Fantasy football league and have the bye this week. Giddy-up.
Today's questions
Which way Wednesday starts this way
Which TV everywhere-these-days syndicated TV crime show is the best, Law&Order, Criminal Minds, any of the NCIS, or other suggestion?
Which way should the Big Ten go in terms of THE Ohio State, reschedule a Big Ten game for Saturday, drop the six-game mandate, nothing and face the very real shot that two ACC and two SEC teams go to the playoff?
Which school subject, if you were forced to compete for meaningful money, would be your strongest category for a Jeopardy-like academic challenge?
Which quarterback would you trade Lamar Jackson for that many might consider shocking?
As for today, Dec. 9, let's review.
John Malkovich - a true acting great - is 67 today. His Rushmore is excellent.
Kirk Douglas would have been 104 today.
Rushmore of Kirk. Go.